Mulheres escravas: alforria, trabalho e mobilidade social, (Piedade do Iguaçu e Santo Antônio de Jacutinga Rio de Janeiro, 1780-1870)

Abstract

The research analyzes the performance of slave women in the rural districts of Piedade of Iguaçu and St. Anthony's Jacutinga, located at the bottom of Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, between 1780 and 1870. Both parishes had their economy, linked to the large agricultural production and the commercial network through the rivers of the region which linked the city of Rio de Janeiro. In this perspective, the slave women had crucial importance, far beyond in-house services usually performed by them in the colonial / imperial society. In this sense, the resulting performance of them manumission provided for their families, so the research seeks to understand the possibilities of social mobility of slave women in rural areas, especially because it is a company with Old Regime traits, where enrichment not always was leading to social mobility. In fact, these parishes should be thought of as members of an empire framed by Christian values and Old regime, and slavery.